Civic Park at Hemisfair opened in 2023 with a splash — its springs and walkways filled with visitors celebrating the new downtown park. Soon there will be more of it to enjoy.
Hemisfair officials announced Thursday that the second phase of the urban park, under construction since October 2023, will open to the public in March. An official ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for March 18 at 10 a.m.
“We are thrilled to have completed Civic Park in its entirety,” said Hemisfair CEO Andres Andujar. “Civic Park serves as San Antonio’s front porch, a gathering place for the city’s biggest celebrations for generations to come.”
The $28 million, 9-acre urban park project was completed by the city’s public works department, New York City-based general contractor Skanska USA and the Seattle-based landscape architecture firm GGN.
Located at the northwestern corner of the park, at the intersection of Alamo and Market streets, the new park space features Source Plaza, the Promenade, Zócalo and a performance stage.
Source Plaza will act as the entrance to Civic Park from downtown San Antonio, said a statement from Hemisfair. It features hardscape and green spaces with limestone walls and seating, shaded terraces and native plants.
This plaza is intended to serve as the gateway to Hemisfair and a proposed sports and entertainment district that could someday include a new Spurs arena in place of the former UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures, a building slated for demolition.
Lined with leafy Mexican Sycamore trees, the Promenade is a shaded walkway in the park that connects Civic Park to its playgrounds, and beyond that, to the Lavaca, King William and Southtown neighborhoods.
The first phase of Hemisfair, a 4-acre space known as Yanaguana Gardens, opened in 2015.
The Zócalo, or public square in Spanish, is an elevated hardscape terrace with decorative tilework, cafe tables and chairs and a water fountain designed to emulate the acequias or canals in the region. It connects the new park space with the first section of the park that opened in September 2023.
The performance stage for concerts and civic events is located at the north end of the 1.5-acre great lawn in Civic Park.
There are 59 sizable trees in the stage area, fed by recycled water from the water collection and treatment system that was built for the first phase of Civic Park. The system nearly eliminates the park’s dependence on potable water sources.
Encompassing the second phase of Civic Park are several public-private partnership developments, initially meant to be completed prior to the NCAA Men’s Final Four in early April, but that are still under construction.
The COVID-19 pandemic and worsened market conditions were cited as reasons for a delayed start.
Zachry Hospitality broke ground in November 2023 on a downtown San Antonio hotel project, the 17-story Monarch San Antonio, more than a dozen years in the making.
Located at 222 S. Alamo St. in Civic Park, it will be the first Curio Collection by Hilton-branded hotel in San Antonio and is expected to open in 2026.
Also in the works is a 10-story mixed-use building and parking garage and a three-story retail building along Market Street on the northern side of Civic Park and adjacent to the Henry B. González Convention Center. That project is in the design and financing phase.
